Clematis forsteri
Common name
Forster’s clematis
Synonyms
Clematis australis var. rutifolia (Hook.f.) Allan; Clematis hexasepala var. rutifolia Hook.f.; Clematis colensoi Hook.f.; Clematis colensoi var. rutifolia (Hook.f.) Hook.f.; Clematis hexapetala L.f.; Clematis hexasepala DC.; Clematis australis Kirk
Family
Ranunculaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lianes & Related Trailing Plants - Dicotyledons
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CLEFOR
Chromosome number
2n = 16
Current conservation status
The threat classification status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Brief description
.Cream-flowered vine with variable shaped leaflets in threes
Distribution
Endemic. North and South Islands. From Auckland area south to northern Westland and Canterbury.
Habitat
Lowland forest and forest margins, especially forest margins, open spaces and streamsides.
Features
Variable evergreen woody climber; stems to 5 m long, 5-10 mm diam. at base; branchlets grooved, sparsely hairy when young, becoming glabrous. Leaves 3-foliate, opposite, 3-10(-16) x (3-)4-8(-14) cm; petioles (1-)2-5(-7) cm long, stout, glabrous. Leaflets 14-55 x 9-28, simple to pinnate, simple leaflets lanceolate to deltoid, margins crenate, serrate or deeply pinnatifid to bipinnatifid, apices apiculate, base attenuate to truncate, petiolules 10-60 mm long, grooved, twining, glabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs white, becoming glabrate; midvein and secondary veins visible above, more obvious below; lamina thin to coriaceous, dark green to grey-green, tip acute, base truncate to subcordate, undersides paler. Juvenile leaves larger, thinner. Inflorescences unisexual, conspicuous, of solitary or 2-10-flowered clustered in leaf axils or in dichasial cymes of 5-10 flowers; pedicels 25-95 mm long moderately to densely hairy; inflorescence bracts 3-13(-18) x 1-4(-8), linear to elliptic, acute to obtuse, paired, united, inserted about middle of pedicel, glabrous to moderately hairy. Flowers spicey scented. Male to 4 cm diam., sepals 5-6, narrowly to broadly elliptic, lanceolate or ovate, imbricate, glabrous or sparsely silky hairy above (rarely glabrous above), silky hairy to hairy beneath, 10-25 x 3-13 mm, cream, base often flushed red-brown; stamens 20-37, anthers 2.4-3.5 mm long, filaments glabrous., 3-11 mm long. Female sepals 5-6(-7), similar to male, 13-25 x 3.8-7 mm; Carpels 35-48; staminodes 1-6. Achenes hairy, elliptic, or rarely narrowly elliptic, narrowed to apex, compressed, margin thickened and distinct, surface unornamented or occ. ridged, (2.6-)3.0-4.5(-5.1) mm long, styles (15-)20-35(-40) cm long at fruiting, white-plumose for most of length, glabrous or with short hairs at base.
Similar taxa
Similar to the white larger-flowered C. paniculata. Also similar to both C. foetida and C. cunninghamii, both of which have brownish hairs on young leaves and elsewhere. Closest to C. petriei, from which it can be distinguished by the yellow-green evenly coloured and near-glabrous above sepals and the narrower more pointed floral bracts.
Flowering
September-March
Flower colours
Cream, Yellow
Fruiting
October-April
Life cycle
Pappate achenes are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Etymology
clematis: From the Greek klema ‘vine’, alluding to the vine-like habit of many species
Attribution
Fact sheet by M.J. Thorsen. Description adapted from Heenan and Cartman (2000).
References and further reading
Adams, N.M. 1951. Clematis hexasepala. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin 51: 23
Anonymous. 1950. Clematis colensoi. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin 23: 23
Heenan, P.B; Cartman, J. 2000: Reinstatement of Clematis petriei (Ranunculaceae), and typification and variation of C. forsteri. New Zealand Journal of Botany 38: 575-585.
Thorsen, M.J.; Dickinson, K.J.M.; Seddon, P.J. 2009: Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309.